Your Ex Lover Is Dead
by Miss Lavender Sky
Summary: Based off a Stars' song by the same name. Blair and Chuck haven't seen each other for three years, since their last breakup, but suddenly run into each other again.


**A/N: In this, basically Chuck and Blair have been broken up and haven't seen each other for three years. Suddenly, they see each other again. The song is "Your Ex Lover Is Dead," and it's by Stars. I highly recommend going and listening to it. I don't own the show/characters [Gossip Girl] or the song/lyrics [Stars].**

"God that was strange to see you again

Introduced by a friend of a friend

Smiled and said "Yes, I think we've met before"

In that instant it started to pour,

Captured a taxi despite all the rain

We drove in silence across Pont Champlain

And all of the time you thought I was sad

I was trying to remember your name..."

Chuck was not looking forward to this. Another charity gala, another night of mindless chatter among the "elite" of society- all of the men who could think of nothing but money, all of the women who could think of nothing but clothes. He was done with all of it. But he had promised Tommy he'd take his cousin Liza to this thing. She had lived in London all her life, and didn't know anyone in the city, so Tommy had asked that he would take her. Which hadn't been a problem until now, when he realized he was actually stuck going to one of these things.

There was a knock on the door.

He sighed. "Hello, Liza," he said, answering the door.

"Hi, Chuck!" Liza was a bright and bubbly girl of nineteen, sweet, but all too nice for Chuck's taste. Still, she was nice enough company. Hopefully the evening wouldn't be a total bust.

He managed to make mindless chatter in the limo on the way there. He had no idea what he was listening to, what he was saying, what he was thinking. He just wished it to be all over.

When they arrived, he decided that he would find the nearest bottle of scotch and down it all. It had been a long time since he could bear these society functions. About three years, actually.

But Liza thwarted his plans, insisting that he meet someone the moment he entered the room.

"I thought you didn't know anyone," he said, irked by the drinks that taunted him from around the room.

"Well, I met the nicest man in the city today!" she said. "And he said that I should come meet his friend. She spent the last two years in London, so he said we'd get along quite well. It'll only take a minute!"

Chuck let out a deep breath, contenting himself with swiping some moderately strong champagne from one of the waiters floating around the room.

"Oh, here he is!" said Liza. "Carter!"

As the man turned, Chuck had an instant feeling of anger at the sight of Carter Baizen, but the feeling disappeared when he saw who he was with.

He hadn't seen her in three years. Not since the day that she had told him that it was over. She looked the same, but different. She was as beautiful as ever, but more grown up now. She looked…she looked like his Blair.

"Ah, Liza!" Carter grinned at her, then looked at Chuck. "Chuck, it's nice to see you again."

Chuck had no response, and was still staring at Blair. She looked as shocked as he was. Granted, she had known that she was coming back to New York. He had never known.

"Liza," said Carter, clearing his throat, obviously trying to get the two ex-lovers to retain some sense of decorum. "This is Blair Waldorf."

"Hello, Liza," said Blair, still staring at Chuck.

There was a pause of silence as no one said anything.

"Chuck, do you know Blair or something?" said Liza.

"Yes," said Chuck. "Yes, I think we may have met once or twice before."

There was another pause.

"Liza," said Chuck, unable to face anyone else at the moment. "Go dance with Carter. I'm sure he'll be glad to take you."

Carter and Liza left; Chuck could hear Liza's giddy laughter as they walked away.

"You're here," he said.

She nodded. "I came to see my mother. She's not doing so great, you know."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied. He wanted to be there for her, like she was always there for him. "If you ever need to talk-"

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm only out because Carter insisted that I meet Liza- and well, it looks like I didn't make a very good first impression."

For the first time, they both laughed.

"Do you want to go?" she asked. She didn't say where, and he didn't care where. What she was offering was an escape- something they both wanted.

"Yes," he said. "Let's go."

They walked together, entranced by the sight of each other again, the magic of the time and distance that had been put between them.

Neither noticed the ripples of shock and the whispers that they walked through on their way.

They both stepped out into the night, alarmed by the rain that was falling around them.

Chuck had given his driver the night off, saying he would just walk back to the hotel, or find a ride. His driver was having a baby soon, he knew. The man deserved a night off.

Blair had come with Carter, and couldn't find his limo.

"A taxi?" she suggested, nearly shouting over the roar of the rain.

He nodded slowly, wondering to himself if she had ever taken a taxi. Not that he knew of. Maybe her time in London had allowed her to grow up more than he thought.

The taxis were not so forthcoming in the rain, and they were soaked by the time they got inside.

"Where to?" asked the taxi driver.

Chuck gave him the address of the hotel, aiming to find some dry clothes, but Blair cut in, giving him an unknown address.

They sat in silence.

"It's been a long time," said Blair, finally speaking.

"Yes, it has."

_The day had been gray. It had been raining the past several days, but it had let up._

_ They had a dinner reservation that night, for a place he knew she loved. He had everything planned out perfectly. It had to be perfect, he knew, the weight of the box in his jacket pocket keeping him grounded whenever he thought he was going to float away._

_ He didn't even remember why they started fighting. It didn't matter with them. They would always find a way to fight._

_ And suddenly, they were screaming. She was throwing things, she was crying, he was yelling, he was saying things he didn't mean._

_ And suddenly she said it. "Do you really love me?"_

_ He hesitated. He wanted nothing more to hurt her right then, in the heat of the moment. All of the yelling, all of the anger: it all built up inside of him. "No." The lie came out cold, just as the cold in his chest began to set in._

_ "Then get out."_

_

* * *

  
_

"This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin

Tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in

Now you're outside me

You see all the beauty

Repent all your sin"

Blair sat in the taxi, contemplating what all this meant. It had been three years since she had last seen him. Three cold, long years. She'd had her days of fun, had her dates, had her share of heartache.

But never what she'd had before. She never was who she was before.

She had made a pact with herself that night. She couldn't let anyone else in, not after that. She wasn't used to loving without it meaning anything, but soon she got used to it. She learned to love like he did- like how he had loved her. He said he cared, but he didn't. Not really.

That night, she packed her bags. Things had gotten bad again, and this time, there was no one to stop her. There was no Serena telling her to be strong, there was no Mother saying she was a Waldorf who could pull through anything, there was no Chuck loving her.

There was nothing.

Her time in London had been spent trying to become someone else. Someone without the memory of what having Chuck Bass in your life could do to you.

But now he was here. And so was she. And they sat in the taxi together, not knowing what to do.

As they sat, staring at each other, she wondered vaguely if he saw her as beautiful. He had told her that he did, but that was a long time ago, and things were different now. She was different. She wondered if he would love her now, or would have loved her. Maybe if she had been like this three years ago, he wouldn't have left her. Maybe he would have loved her. Maybe now he regretted it. Maybe now he wished he hadn't.

Or maybe now it was over.

* * *

"It's nothing but time and a face that you lose

I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose

I'll write you a postcard

I'll send you the news

From a house down the road from real love..."

They arrived at a street that Chuck didn't recognize, at a small coffee shop that Chuck had never seen before. He found it odd that she knew the city better than he did, when he had remained here and she had left.

They walked inside, still silent. At this point, it seemed that they were beyond words. Words would have probably been too much for them. They were never really good with words. Not to each other, at least.

They took a seat at a small booth and ordered coffee. Suddenly, the words flowed out as they both recapped what had been going on with them for the last three years.

They sat there for hours, talking as the waiters brought them coffee after coffee, never noticing how time disappeared behind them. That was how it was with them. They had never noticed time when they were together.

Finally, the inevitable came.

"Why did you leave?" he asked.

She looked at him for a moment, startled. She took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "Why did you say it?"

They fell back into their earlier silence. They both knew the answer. They were both different people, too different, and they didn't work things out like normal people. They were meant to meet again, but not like this. As people in a distant time, with nothing but a past behind them.

_The ring hung like a boulder in his jacket now. He could do nothing with it now. He stormed through the city streets, not even noticing as the gray skies showered down rain. It didn't matter any more. Nothing mattered any more._

_ He found the park- Blair's favorite place in the wintertime- and stopped. He threw his pocket open with such force that it was difficult to do. He yanked the box out and opened it, grasping the sparkling engagement ring that gleamed there. It taunted him now._

_ He threw it into the pond, dropped the box by the water, and walked away._

_

* * *

  
_

"Live through this, and you won't look back...

Live through this, and you won't look back...

Live through this, and you won't look back..."

Blair firmly believed that this was her trial in life. Getting over Chuck was the hardest thing she'd ever done, but she'd done it, and it was over with. She couldn't go back. It was too much. It was too hard. She couldn't.

* * *

"There's one thing I want to say, so I'll be brave

You were what I wanted

I gave what I gave

I'm not sorry I met you

I'm not sorry it's over

I'm not sorry there's nothing to say"

The coffee shop was nearly closing. It was almost two in the morning. But he didn't care. All he wanted was to hold her again, to have her again, to fix the mistakes that he had made.

But it was too hard. There was too much pride in him, too much arrogance left from his old days. He couldn't do it.

Instead he did what he wished he would never do again.

He heard the words, he saw the scene, but the thoughts were not the same. The thoughts screamed, _I love you! I'm sorry! I miss you! I love you!_ But the words said, "It was good to see you again. I'm glad we saw each other. I think we both are. But I think we agree that it's done." He nodded. "It's done."

He turned around and walked away from her, cursing himself with every step he took.

It was the look in her eyes. The look of vulnerability, the same look he had seen that day, three years ago. The look of hope and love and faith, all for him. And he had done what he had done that day. He had gone and hurt her.

* * *

"I'm not sorry there's nothing to save..."

Blair should've known better. She shouldn't have gone with him. She should've stayed back at the gala with Carter, said her "hello" and "how do you do" to Chuck, and left him there.

But now she was left in the same twisted mess that it had been three years ago.

There was one thing she was glad about. There was one thing she was satisfied with.

With those final parting words, Chuck let her know that any chance they had, any flicker of hope there had been was gone.

She didn't have to wait, to worry, to wonder.

It was done.

* * *

The emotions swirled heavily the next day. Neither could get their heads straight.

_Please meet me at the park, by the lake. Your favorite spot._

The card was unsigned, but she knew who it was from. She came to the park, unsure if her fragile heart would suffer more for this.

Chuck was there, already waiting for her.

"I'm sorry," he said, when she got there. "I didn't mean it. What I said yesterday, what I said that night- I didn't mean any of it."

She nodded slowly. It was too much.

"And Blair?"

She looked up at him, her eyes full of that vulnerability again.

"I love you."

She grinned at him, all the hurt of the last three years washed away. It was all okay now.

She threw her arms around him, but pulled away suddenly, looking over his shoulder.

"Why is the water drained?" she asked, her eyes on the drained lake that she loved so much.

He smirked at her. "You know, I was very upset with you that day. I came here, because it reminded me of you, and I was so mad that I threw something in the water- something that was a present for you."

"A present?" she asked.

Chuck pulled out a box- a different box, but carrying the same object- out of his jacket pocket and opened it. "Yes," he said a present.

She beamed at him.

"Will you marry me?" he asked.

She threw her arms around him, knowing that this time, everything would be different. Everything would be okay.


End file.
